Leeds couple’s dog is first with ‘blade’ leg extensions

A dog owned by a couple raised in Leeds is the first in the world to receive leg extensions modelled on Paralympic sprinters’ “blades”.

Gill and John Dalley’s pet Cola lost his front legs in an incident when he was a pup in Bangkok. Cola was later brought to the Thai holiday island of Phuket by Leeds-raised Mrs Dalley, a founder of the Soi Dog Foundation, which rescues and treats sick and injured dogs and cats.

Mrs Dalley, who died in February, felt an affinity for Cola because she had lost both legs after contracting septicaemia. She asked Bengt Soderberg, owner of the Scandinavian Orthopedic Laboratory in Phuket, to create the dog’s “blades”.